84 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”

  1. What will the excuse be from republicans for yet another epic failure of a special election?

    A. We has a sub-par candidate

    B. Michael Steele is a clown

    C. It was a district Obama carried, so we never expected to win it to begin with

    D. Murphy cheated by spending a big chunk of his own moniez on teh race!

    E. All of the above

  2. is still gunning for the Republican nomination. From my inbox :

    Dear Friends,

    I am pleased to share with you that this week I received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Spirit of Enterprise Award for my support of pro-growth legislation in the last session of Congress.

    Some of these initiatives include:    

    • College Opportunity and Affordability Act to reauthorize and amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by enhancing access to and affordability of higher education.

    • Renewable Energy Amendment to the Foreclosure Prevention Act to aid the development of renewable and alternative energy technologies.

    • Economic Recovery Legislation of February 2008 which included my bonus depreciation and increased expensing provisions for businesses.

    • United States-India Nuclear Agreement to help revitalize the U.S. nuclear industry by allowing the U.S. firms to work with India on civilian nuclear efforts, creating thousands of high-tech American jobs.

    “Last year in particular, Congress had to make some tough choices, and Senator Specter clearly demonstrated his commitment to the economy and keeping America competitive in an ever-changing global market. The Chamber is proud to present Senator Specter with the Spirit of Enterprise Award on behalf of businesses large and small.”  – Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber.

    Next week, Congress is scheduled to take up the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2010. I have grave doubts about the proposed budget because the overall spending is very heavy, although I’m reserving judgment until I see the particulars and deal with it specifically.

    I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the administration to grow our economy.

    Sincerely,

    Arlen Specter

  3. I don’t have any particular races in mind. But I have a question.

    How do you guys follow urban and local politics around the country? I know there are good blogs about the politics of Boston, Queens, suburban DC, etc. But I don’t have time to read ALL of them. Are there any good blogs that aggregate news from many cities/metropolitan areas?

  4. Plus the resignation and retirements.  I really miss playing Another One Bites The Dust.  Even Hit the Road, Jack.

    Last week I was gonna get snarky and say “The Iditarod, of course.”  It turned out to be a brutal competition with the worst weather in 20 years.

  5. If John McKinney does run for Himes’ seat, I wonder if we’d be dealing with a genuine liberal Republican on our hands.  I looked up the vote ratings for his father, Stewart McKinney, from his time in the House (vote ratings from the ADA & ACU).  If you combine them and average them, McKinney has a rating of 67 out of 100 (100 being perfectly liberal).  I’ve looked at other northeastern Republicans since the early 1970s, and hardly any had more liberal ratings than McKinney’s.

    Does anyone know if John McKinney is similarly as moderate/liberal of a Republican, or is he more conservative than his father?

  6. turn a phrase:


    the 32 Democrats who control the State Senate by one vote have discovered that a party with a one-vote majority is exactly as good as its weakest, dumbest and most venal member. This in a group where one guy is about to stand trial for beating up his girlfriend and several others give the impression of being willing to trade their vote for a television someone handed them from the back of a stolen truck.

    [. . .]

    Until 2008, Democrats were the perpetual minority party in the Senate. And what kind of people do you think run for a job that involves collecting a paycheck and staring at the ceiling? A handful of sterling characters bent on change and a large bunch of slugs who spend their entire legislative careers trying to raise enough money to build a new softball field or a Cucumber Museum back in the home district.

    [. . .]

    Keeping the minority so weak it atrophies isn’t really good for anybody. Look at David Paterson. He was first elected to the State Senate in 1985 – the same year Mike Tyson went to Albany to score a knockout in his debut as a professional fighter. Paterson is an intelligent guy, but the only way you could have a worse preparation for being governor than 20-plus years in the New York Senate minority would be to spend your entire adult life entombed in a catacomb.

    The good-government mantra about open process, public hearings, transparent committees, etc., has a point beyond civic virtue. The minority party you’re emasculating today may be the majority tomorrow, and it’s better they not be totally unhousebroken. Particularly if there’s any chance your hero-prosecutor chief executive will have to resign in disgrace after getting caught making dates with a hooker.

  7. Like Eric Massa and Michael Arcuri?

    Dan Maffei, John  Hall and Kirsten Gillibrand all did better yet Massa and Arcuri both performed significantly worse in what seems to be better circumstances (better fundraising, name recognition, Obama coattails).

    What’s the deal here. I hope Scott Murphey is more along the Maffei, Gillibrand, Hall trend, although he’s a new candidate in a special election so it’s not really a fair comparison.  

  8. He is running for the open 1st district seat after representing the 2nd district previously.  Hopefully, the progressive vote won’t be split among several candidates in the primary, allowing Case to sneak in.

    http://www.honoluluadvertiser….

  9. Krom is a major recruiting success as a former mayor and city council-member for the largest city in the district.  The CA-48 went barely for Obama last cycle, and the perennial sacrificial lamb in the Democrat’s Congressional ballot spot picked up 40%.  

    Campbell will be mocked nationally for his Atlas Shrugged obsession, but locally he’s going to be taken to task for failing to enamor himself to his constituents like his predecessor, Chris Cox.  Campbell is out of touch with a district that is growing more economically, ideologically, ethnically, and politically diverse.  

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